China has already created 7 million jobs this year

For most nations employment data takes centre stage — not so in China.

On Monday the nation’s statistics agency, the NBS, quietly released its June quarter unemployment report with most of the detail, unsurprisingly, reflective of a strong, robust economy.

In the six months to June urban employment, akin to non-farm payrolls, surged by more than seven million — reflecting more than 70% of the 10 million jobs target set by the government for calendar year 2015.

In the first half of the year the service sector grew by 8.4%, accounting for 49.5% of GDP in the period.

Feng also said the country’s promotion of mass entrepreneurship had also helped stabilise employment as more people become self-employed. According to data from the NBS, the number of newly-registered enterprises jumped 19.4% from a year earlier to 2.1 million as at the end of June.

Elsewhere the unemployment rate dipped to 5.06% from 5.19% at the end of the March quarter. As is the case with most developed nations, the unemployment rate among college graduates was elevated compared to the national average, coming in at 7.74%.

And proving even China isn’t immune to demographic forces, the size of the nation’s working age labour market, 16 to 59 years, shrunk by 3.71 million last year.